Fixed annuity sales fell 7% in the third quarter to$19 billion, according to Beacon Research’s Fixed Annuity Premium Study. For the year to date, sales fell slightly less than 1% to$58.3 billion.

Beacon divides the fixed-income universe into four segments: Fixed-rate MVAs, Fixed-rate non-MVAs, Indexed and Income. They had varying degrees of success for the quarter and for the year. For the year-to-date, the biggest decrease came from fixed-rate MVAs, which declined 15%. The biggest increase came from Income annuities, up 3.2%. And for the third quarter, fixed-rate MVAs fell 33%, while Income annuities were up 5.4%.

Speaking about the segments that posted gains,Jeremy Alexander, CEO ofBeacon Research, said in a press release: “As we anticipated, these products continued to do well—despite the quarter’s low interest rate environment—because of strong demand for guaranteed lifetime retirement income, be it the personal pension provided by income annuities or the lifetime withdrawal benefits offered by most indexed annuities.”

As far as the top five companies in this space, they all changed positions from the previous quarter.Allianz Liferegained the top slot, which bumped Western National to second place.American Equityand AvivaUSAcame in third and fourth, respectively, while New York Life came in fifth. The third quarter sales results were as follows:Allianz Life($1.6 billion), Western National ($1.34 billion), American Equity ($1.27 billion), Aviva ($1.26 billion), and New York Life ($922 million).